Irene Xavier is a Malaysian women's rights activist. She is a prominent member of

Friends of Women, Selangor - Persatuan Sahabat Wanita, Selangor ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

(

PSWS The Tropical Cyclone Wind Signals (TCWS, or simply ''wind signals'' or ''signals''; Filipino: ''Mga Babala ng Bagyo'') are tropical cyclone alert levels issued by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration ...

), a women's rights NGO. She is also a key activist of Suaram, Malaysia's leading human rights organisation. Irene was one of the 106 people detained under the

Internal Security Act (Malaysia) The Internal Security Act 1960 ( ms, Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri 1960, abbreviated ISA) was a preventive detention law in force in Malaysia. The legislation was enacted after the Federation of Malaya gained independence from Britain in 1957 ...

in 1987 during

Operation Lalang Operation Lalang ( ms, Operasi Lalang, also referred as Ops Lalang and taken to mean "Weeding Operation" or "Operation Weeding") was a major crackdown between 27 October and 20 November 1987 undertaken by the Royal Malaysian Police, ostensibly ...

. As the Internal Security Act is often used to silence dissent, Irene was targeted because of her work as a women's rights activist. In the first 60 days of incommunicado detention, she claimed that she was beaten, humiliated and mentally abused.

External links

WAO: "My Experience with Police Violence as an ISA Detainee"

Malaysian activists Malaysian prisoners and detainees Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Malaysian human rights activists Malaysian women's rights activists Malaysian people of Indian descent {{Malaysia-bio-stub